The Future of Geek-Craft

Been a while since I made a post, and with the state of everything, I think you’ll understand why. This is what’s been going on with me and how I see Geek-Craft changing.

We’ve moved!

First and foremost, we moved from Cleveland, OH to Champaign, IL. This was mostly done for a better support network for our family and to give Ginny some more family time with her aunt and uncle who live in the next town over. Packing up all the games and everything else certainly took a lot out of us, and while we’ll miss a lot in Ohio, we look forward to the new opportunities and experiences we can have in Illinois. We’re now a good bit closer to Gen Con, but until it feels safe to attend, no conventions are planned for the time being.

Boardgames

I am still playing board games, though most of them have been on BoardGameArena lately. Finding time, energy, and physical space to set up a game and get through it with the move and the toddler and the depression / anxiety / etc. has just been too much lately. A few games have hit the table, but nothing big.

For demos, I’m hoping to start back up this year, hopefully sometime in the next few months. I’m checking out a few local stores and seeing what makes sense. I’ll miss Critical Hit Games, but I’m hoping I can find another store and work with them to provide demos to customers. I miss demoing and helping people find games they’ll enjoy.

In terms of keeping up to date, I am woefully behind in terms of what all is out there in the world. We haven’t run an inventory of the game library in years, so as we unpack, we’re tracking the games we unload so we know what we have, what we didn’t know we have, and what needs to go. I dare say I have too many games.

Reviews

One benefit of moving here is that the local family are also board gamers, which means more potential for gaming. It’s not been realized just yet, but it’s a work in progress. Once there’s more actual gaming happening, the goal is to get back to doing reviews. That being said, I don’t support the Cult of the New, so I plan to do reviews of games that may be new, may be old, may be recent or not. The main goal is to review games that are available, so that people who enjoy my reviews and find a game they want to enjoy can actually get the game. Previews are still an option, but I want to focus on available games in the hobby.

I also have been playing review copies of video games on my Steam Deck, and owe those publishers reviews. Generally they’ll be board game adjacent games, like Howl and Hellcard, or games that really catch my attention, such as NecroBouncer and Strayed Lights.

Crafts

With a new house comes new space for new crafts. We purchased a laser cutter to do things like tokens and inserts. While it’s not been set up, the hope is to design and provide a wider variety of game related items on a non-Etsy storefront. If you sell things online, please let me know if you like or don’t like whatever you use to sell, as it’s something that I need to look into. The plan is to eventually have things available, such as:

• 3D printed objects (both filament and resin printed)
• 3D designed files
• Laser cut items
• Embroidered bags
• Custom made dice

As our skillsets and tools change, that list will change as well. If you have a game in mind that you’d like to make just a bit better, please reach out and we can discuss ideas.

So that’s where things are. It’s not a new start, or really a big change from what we were doing. Just trying to refocus and deal with the move, figure out next steps, and keep gaming.